TEETH OF THE DIVINE STAFF PICKS FOR 2017

Another year on the books, another year packed with excellent metal in every style. And while we didn’t see any significant trends emerge this year, you will notice if you look at our collective lists that there’s very little overlap in our picks. The new releases from the old guard, the standard bearers, and the heavy hitters of death, black, doom and beyond only make up a fraction of what’s offered here – everything else is new arrivals and recent rising stars. No matter where you find it, metal has never been so prolific or diverse, and that is great news for all you out there who are black of heart and hard of hearing. So get ready to dig in and get lost in the deepest bowels of the metal underground – when you come up for air, it’ll be 2018.

Seems like every year I say what a great year it was, and 2017 was no different. Despite all the bullshit going on in the world, metal stayed true and was there for me and all of its fans. This year, you’ll notice something that has never happened before on my list. Amid the usual Swedish Death metal, tech death metal, chaotic death metal and black metal, there are 3 power metal albums. Yes, THREE!!!!!! And one in the goddamn top 10! However, death metal was still the story of 2017, as the year saw the US old guard return with a vengeance. Immolation, Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Dying Fetus, Obituary, Morbid Angel and Broken Hope all delivered excellent records. Tech death was a particularly strong genre as well, with Gigan, Origin,Inanimate Existence, and Decrepit Birth all returning to the fray. It’s not just about the familiar names, though – a lot of new acts have also found their way to my list to knock those perennial veterans out.

Biggest Surprises: Myrkur – Mareridt. Amalie Bruun delivered a wonderful, electronic, trance-rock black metal opus to the mouth-breathing black metal fans who made her life miserable. In The Woods – Pure. Who would have thought 17 years later, the singer from Jaldaboath would join In the Woods and they not miss a beat in one of 2017s more overlooked returns?

Disappointments: . Deepsend Records and Blast Head Records calling it a day.

Best Label: Despite strong years from previous sinners Unique Leader and Dark Descent, this year it’s Season of Mist. As well as all of the releases above, they had killer releases from the likes of Carach Angren, Virvum, Ulsect, Dodecahedron, Impure Wilhemina, Nightbringer, Necrowretch and Benighted. A few of these were on and off the above list many times.

Spectral Voice and Dying Fetus would’ve been my
11 and 12 but I didn’t really have a solid 13-15. I’d rather agonize over a limited 10.
Didn’t finally listen to the Dying Fetus until last
month but haven’t been on a brutal death metal kick since earlier in the year.